Summary Information

Creator
Michalson, Carl.

Title and dates
Carl Michalson Papers, 1938-1986 [Bulk 1945-1965]

Abstract
Carl Donald Michalson started as an instructor in the Drew Theological School in 1943 and was the Andrew V. Stout Professor of Systematic Theology from 1959 until his tragic death in an airplane crash on November 8, 1965. This collection documents his lectures and publications research, including course outlines and bibliographies, correspondence, professional papers, photographs, sermons, published articles, recorded class lectures, and his student notebooks and papers from Drew Theological Seminary and Yale University.

Size
11 linear feet (28 boxes)

Location
Drew University Archives, Madison, NJ

Language(s) of materials
English, German, French, Japanese

Biography

Carl Donald Michalson, Jr. was born on June 29, 1915, in Waverly, Minnesota, to Carl Donald Michalson and Gertrude Leuzinger Michalson. After graduating from high school in 1932, a fateful intervention with the pastor of his church changed his path from completing a correspondence business course to attending John Fletcher College in University Park, Iowa, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1936. Later that year, Michalson began a Bachelor of Divinity degree at Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, New Jersey, working under his mentors Edwin Lewis and Lynn Harold Hough. He completed the degree in 1939, and followed with a Masters of Divinity in 1940 with a thesis titled Human Responsibility in the Republic of Plato and in the Synoptic Gospels. He pursued a doctoral degree at Yale University, where he studied under H. Richard Niebuhr and Robert Calhoun. He completed his dissertation, The Problem of Revelation and Reason in the Theology of Karl Heim, in 1945.

In 1943, Michalson returned to Drew University as an Instructor in the Drew Theological School. The following year he married Janet Aloyse Merrill, with whom he had two children, Karen in 1946 and Steven in 1949. In 1945 he became an Assistant Professor, and in 1951 an Associate Professor. In 1955 Michalson achieved full professorship as the successor to Edwin Lewis, and became the Andrew V. Stout Professor of Systematic Theology in 1959. While at Drew, “Dr. Mike,” as he was known among his students and colleagues, taught many courses, including: The Philosophical Backgrounds of Theology, Philosophical Anthropology, Theology for Persistent Questions, and Theology and Preaching. In coordination with his lectures and writings, Michalson frequently preached at churches and conferences.

In 1952 and 1953, Michalson spent his sabbatical in Germany and Switzerland doing post-doctoral research at the University of Tübingen and the University of Basel, where he worked with Karl Heim, the subject of his doctoral dissertation. In 1960, the family was in France where Michalson researched at the University of Strasbourg and wrote The Rationality of Faith, published in 1963.

Arguably, Michalson's most important research trip was to Japan in 1958 as a visiting lecturer at Tokyo Union Theological Seminary and Aoyama Gakuin University. The trip had a profound effect both on Michalson and on the Japanese Christian community. As Jun'ichi Asano said in The Journal of Christian Studies in 1966, “We cannot overestimate the stimuli he gave to Japanese Christianity through his lectures and sermons made at many schools and churches during his stay in Japan.” Michalson initially set out to learn what Japanese students already understood about Christian theology; after seeing the originality of their thoughts, he had colleagues and students orally translate Japanese theological books and articles into English while he took notes. The resulting book from Michalson's travels, Japanese Contributions to Christian Theology, was published in 1960 and offered rare insight into contemporary Japanese theology and philosophy.

Starting in 1956, Michalson wrote or edited six books in seven years and was praised for bringing modern psychological knowledge to bear upon classic theological problems. In 1956 he edited Christianity and the Existentialists. He wrote Faith for Personal Crises in 1958, with a Japanese translation in 1959, based on a series of articles that addressed the role of faith with the crises of anxiety, marriage, suffering and death, vocation, and doubt. In 1959, Michalson translated Friedrich Gogarten's The Reality of Faith to English. Analysis of faith and reason formed the foundation of two books, The Hinge of History in 1959 and The Rationality of Faith in 1963. Japanese Contributions to Christian Theology was published in 1960 as was The Witness of Kierkegaard, which Michalson edited. His final book, Worldly Theology: The Hermeneutical Focus on Historical Faith, was in the process of being typed by Michalson at the time of his death; it was published posthumously in 1967.

On November 8, 1965, Michalson was on his way to speak at a National Conference on Christian Education in Cincinnati, Ohio when the airplane crashed into a hill when trying to land in a storm. A colleague, Professor John Godsey, stated the importance of Dr. Michalson to Drew University and to the Christian Church when he declared that, “Probably no American theologian was more effective in interpreting the meaning of Christian faith to the growing masses of searching and bewildered college students than Carl Michalson.”

After his brother's death, Gordon Michalson published The Witness of Radical Faith, a collection of Carl's sermons, in 1974; many of his sermons are included in this collection. A year later, Gordon, former colleague Charles Courtney, and former student Olin Ivey wrote Hermeneutics and the Worldliness of Faith: A Festschrift in Memory of Carl Michalson. Also to honor his contributions, the Carl Michalson Society began in 1977, striving to fulfill Michalson's wish to provide Japanese students with scholarship money for Drew University, which was also echoed in the Michalson family's request at the funeral that those wishing to honor his memory tangibly contribute to scholarship aid for Japanese students at Drew University 's Theological School.

Carl Michalson remains a revered figure in the field of systematic theology. His work has been the topic of several theses and dissertations and his lessons and lectures remain an influence on all seminary students and theologians today.

Scope and Content Note

The Carl Michalson Papers document Michalson's evolving insight into theology, from his days as a student at Drew Theological School through his tenure as the Andrew V. Stout Professor of Systematic Theology. The materials were primarily generated in the United States, but are also from Michalson's trips abroad to Germany, Switzerland, Japan and France. Topics include Christology, Eschatology, Hermeneutics, Reformation, Church History, Sin and Salvation, Mysticism, Theology for Crucial Situations, Japanese Theology, and Philosophy.

This collection contains hand-written lecture and publication notes and research, student notebooks and papers, course outlines and bibliographies, correspondence, professional papers, photographs, published articles, sermons, recorded class lectures and the corresponding written outline, compiled by Reverend Frank Ostertag, former student of Michalson.

Arrangement

Access and Use

Access
The Carl Michalson Papers are available for research.

Restrictions on Use and Copyright Information
One photocopy may be made of each document for the purpose of research. Permission to publish must be obtained from the Drew University Archivist. Researcher is responsible for further copyright restrictions.

Contents List

Series 1: Education, 1938-1945

Series Description
The Education Series contains materials related to Michalson's studies. It is divided into two subseries: Subseries A includes course notes, academic papers and a copy of his Master's thesis from Drew University. Subseries B contains class notebooks, academic papers and dissertation research from Yale University. The Yale University notebooks are primarily from courses with Robert L. Calhoun and Douglas Clyde Macintosh.

Arrangement
Subseries A arranged alphabetically by title, with book reports and thesis at the end. Subseries B arranged alphabetically within three pre-established groups: class notebooks, academic papers and dissertation research.

Box

Folder

Title

Date

Subseries A: Drew University, 1938-1940

1

1

Andrew Martin Fairbairn: His Life and Thought

undated

1

2

Contemporary Theology

undated

1

3

Critical Humanism and Comprehensive Scholarship

undated

1

4

The Doctrine of Atonement

undated

1

5

Existentialism is a Mysticism

undated

1

6

The Function of Faith: Essay Concerning Christian Understanding

undated

1

7

The Humanistic Spirit in Rome

undated

1

8

The Idea of Divine Revelation and the Response of Man

undated

1

9

The Idea of the Church in the Eucharist of the Early Period

undated

1

10

Lectures in Christian Theology

1938

1

11

Life of Jesus

1938

1

12

Metaphysical Theology

undated

1

13

Myth and Legend: As Related to Genesis 1 to 11

undated

1

14

The Papacy in the Reformation

undated

1

15

Philosophy and Religion

undated

1

1

Platonism: Its Religious and Philosophical Influence

1939-1940

2

2

The Quest for Certainty

undated

2

3

The Social Doctrines in the Thought of Reinhold Niebuhr

undated

2

4

Stuart F. Sherman

undated

2

5

Substance and Activity

undated

2

6

Theology in the Poets

undated

2

7

The Theology of Dante's Divine Comedy

undated

2

8

The Theology of the Poetry of Francis Thompson

undated

2

9

The Use of Materials by Irving Babbitt

undated

2

10

Validity in Religious Experience

undated

2

11

William Ernest Hocking and The Meaning of God in Human Experience

undated

2

12

Collected Book Reports

undated

2

13

Master's Thesis: Human Responsibility in the Republic of Plato and in the Synoptic Gospels

undated

Subseries B: Yale University, 1940-1945

3

1

Christian Ethics, course notebook I

undated

3

2

Christian Ethics, course notebook II

undated

3

3

Contemporary Theology, course notebook I

undated

3

4

Contemporary Theology, course notebook II

undated

3

5

History of Christian Doctrine, course notebook I

undated

3

6

History of Christian Doctrine, course notebook II

undated

3

7

History of Christian Doctrine, course notebook III

undated

3

8

History of Christian Doctrine, course notebook IV

undated

3

9

History of Philosophy, course notebook I

undated

3

10

History of Philosophy, course notebook II

undated

4

1

History of Philosophy, course notebook III

undated

4

2

History of Philosophy papers

undated

4

3

Philosophy of Religion, course notebook I

undated

4

4

Philosophy of Religion, course notebook II

undated

4

5

Unlabeled notebook

undated

4

6

Unlabeled notebook

undated

4

7

Unlabeled notebook

undated

4

8

Unlabeled notebook

undated

4

9

Unlabeled notebook

undated

4

10

Augustine's Doctrine of Grace

undated

4

11

Contemporary Theology

undated

4

12

John Henry Newman

undated

4

13

On Personal Evangelism and Religious Education

undated

4

14

Personalism and Theology

undated

4

15

Social Religion

undated

5

1

Das Gewissheitsproblem

undated

5

2

Das Weltbilt der Zukunft

undated

5

3

Das Wesen der Gnade

undated

5

4

Die Weltanschauung der Bibel

undated

5

5

Das Wort vom Kreuz

undated

5

6

Glaube und Denken and other papers

undated

5

7

Glaube und Leben

undated

5

8

Glaubensgewissheit

undated

5

9

God Transcendent

undated

5

10

Jesus der Herr

undated

5

11

Jesus der Weltvollender

undated

5

12

Leben aus dem Glauben

undated

5

13

Leitfaden der Dogmatik

undated

5

14

Psychologismus oder Anti-Psychologismus

undated

5

15

Heim – English Works

undated

5

16

Heim – Incomplete Bibliography

undated

5

17

Heim – Notes and Correspondence

undated

5

18

Heim – Periodicals

undated

5

19

Heim – Secondary Periodicals

undated

5

20

Heim – Secondary Sources

undated

Series 2: Academia, 1943-1965

Series Description
The Academia Series contains materials developed by Michalson during his time on the Drew Theological School faculty. It is divided into two subseries: Subseries A consists of course outlines, lectures, examinations, and course readings. Subseries B holds Michalson's research for class lectures and his published articles and books. Many courses are offered repeatedly under varying course numbers and names, it was not possible to arrange the materials chronologically or alphabetically. Many files were continuously added to over many years and could not be rearranged or separated.

Arrangement
Arranged in original order.

Box

Folder

Title

Date

Subseries A: Course Materials, 1953, undated

6

1

Course Outlines

undated

6

2

Course Outlines

undated

6

3

Lectures

undated

6

4

Course Readings

undated

6

5

Course Readings

undated

6

6

Course Readings

undated

6

7

German Exams

1953, undated

6

8

Graduate School Departmental Exams

undated

Subseries B: Article Research and Lecture Notes, 1943-1966

6

9

Notes on Christology Seminar

1962

6

10

Notes on Seminar on Work of Christ

1963

6

11

“Finality of Christ” Article

1964

7

1

“Finality of Christ” Article

1964

7

2

Eschatology

1964-1965

7

3

Theism

undated

7

4

Doctrine of God

undated

7

5

Doctrine of God

undated

7

6

Seminar on The Doctrine of God

1948

7

7

Lectures in progress for The Doctrine of God

undated

7

8

The Doctrine of God

undated

8

1

Preaching

undated

8

2

Sermons in Preparation

undated

8

3

Hermeneutics Consultation Conference

1962

8

4

History and Hermeneutics

1963

8

5

Medieval Scholasticism

undated

8

6

Church History Survey

undated

8

7

Greek and Latin Fathers

undated

8

8

Suffering and Death

1965

8

9

Christian Doctrine

undated

8

10

Medieval Aquinas

undated

8

11

Aquinas and Dante

undated

9

1

Continental Reformation

undated

9

2

Luther

undated

9

3

Reformation – Luther, Calvin

undated

9

4

Augustine

undated

9

5

Essay on Augustine's Grace of God

undated

9

6

Augustine

1949

9

7

Revelation and Response

undated

9

8

Revelation

undated

9

9

Faith

undated

9

10

Faith, Revelation and Reason

undated

9

11

Reason and Preaching

undated

9

12

Introduction to the Doctrine of Sin

1943-1944

9

13

Reading Notes on Sin

undated

9

14

Original Sin

undated

9

15

Christian Ethics

undated

9

16

Revelation

1946-1947

10

1

Miscellaneous Papers on Revelation

undated

10

2

Lectures on Revelation

1944-1945

10

3

Bibliography on Revelation

undated

10

4

Revelation – Bible

undated

10

5

Revelation – Patristics

undated

10

6

Revelation – Scholastics

undated

10

7

Revelation – From Luther to Kant

undated

10

8

Contemporary Revelation

1943-1944

10

9

Salvation

undated

10

10

Salvation

undated

10

11

Salvation

1946

10

12

Paul on Salvation

undated

10

11

Salvation

1946

10

12

Paul on Salvation

undated

10

13

Salvation Construction, Course 711.2, Doctrine of Salvation

undated

10

14

Secularization

undated

10

15

Sin – Lectures

1945-1946

10

16

Sin

1947-1948

10

17

Sin

undated

10

18

Doctrine of Sin

undated

11

1

Notes related to the Religious Dimensions of the Doctrine of Sin

undated

11

2

Sin and Salvation

undated

11

3

Sin and Salvation – Bibliography

undated

11

4

Psychological and Sociological

undated

11

5

Moral

undated

11

6

The Holy Spirit

undated

11

7

Second Consultation on Hermeneutics, Theological Discourse and the Proclamation of the Gospel

April 9-11, 1964

11

8

Rationality of Faith

undated

11

9

Notes on Chapter 2 of Rationality of Faith

undated

11

10

Faith and Freedom – Lectures

undated

11

11

Notes on Freedom

undated

11

12

Notes on Faith – Sky Lake Conference

September 13-17, 1948

11

13

The Mission of the Church

undated

12

1

Missionary Structure

1962-1963

12

2

International Missionary Council

undated

12

3

Worship and Meditation in the Church

undated

12

4

Leadership Training – John's Gospel

undated

12

5

Biblical Paul and the Prophets

undated

12

6

Notes of Mysticism

undated

12

7

Mysticism

undated

12

8

Student Regional Leadership Training Conference

June 8-15, 1955

12

9

Prayer

undated

13

1

Prayer

undated

13

2

Contemporary Theology

1962, undated

13

3

Contemporary Theology

undated

13

4

Schweitzer to Buri

undated

13

5

Aulen

undated

13

6

Heinrich Barth

undated

14

1

Bonhoeffer

undated

14

2

Brunner

undated

14

3

Bultmann

undated

14

4

Diem

1957

14

5

Nature as History

undated

14

6

Theology as History

1965-1966

14

7

Theology as History

1963

14

8

Theology as History

1963

14

9

Theology as History

undated

14

10

Theology as History

undated

15

1

Theology as History

undated

15

2

Theology as History

undated

15

3

History

undated

15

4

Important on History

undated

15

5

History, Ontology, and Theology

undated

15

6

American Theology

undated

15

7

The Christian Faith

undated

16

1

Course Materials for the Christian Faith

1948

16

2

Christian Theology

undated

16

3

Christianity and Modern Thought

1962-1963

16

4

The Philosophy of Christian Revelation

undated

16

5

Edwin Lewis articles – The Christian and His Creed

1943

16

6

Notes for Christian Theology (taught with Lewis)

undated

16

7

Notes for Lectures with Lewis

undated

16

8

Introduction to Systematic Theology

undated

16

9

Ebeling Lectures

undated

16

10

Gogarten

undated

16

11

Reinhold Niebuhr

undated

16

12

Paul Tillich

undated

16

13

Theology for Persistent Questions

undated

17

1

Theology for Persistent Questions

undated

17

2

Theology for Crucial Situations

undated

17

3

Theology for Crucial Situations

undated

17

4

Sex and Love

undated

17

5

Theology for Social Situations

undated

17

6

Contemporary Issues in Theology

undated

17

7

Existentialism is a Mysticism

undated

18

1

Existential

undated

18

2

Existentialism

undated

18

3

Christianity and Existentialism Seminar

undated

18

4

Contemporary Philosophy and Religion

undated

18

5

Philosophical Anthropology

1947

18

6

Philosophical Anthropology

1949

18

7

Philosophical Anthropology

undated

18

8

Philosophical Anthropology – Uncorrelated Reading

undated

18

9

Science

undated

18

10

Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion

undated

18

11

Modern Theories of Religion

undated

19

1

Modern Philosophies of Religion

1946

19

2

Christianity in Japan

undated

19

3

Japanese Theology

undated

19

4

Notes for Japanese Contributions to Christian Theology

undated

19

5

Japanese Materials Catalogs

undated

19

6

Japanese Theology

undated

19

7

Japanese Theology

undated

20

1

Japanese Theology

undated

20

2

Sartre – Zen, Beat and other material

undated

20

3

Reading Notes and Bibliography

undated

20

4

Christological Controversies

undated

20

5

Lecture Preparation

undated

20

6

Sermon Outlines and Prayers

undated

20

7

Descartes

undated

20

8

Heidegger

undated

20

9

Dostoevsky

undated

20

10

Gadamer

undated

21

1

Karl Jaspers

undated

21

2

Karl Lowith

undated

21

3

Soren Kierkegaard

undated

21

4

Richard Kroner's “Von Kant bis Hegel”

undated

21

5

Max Scheler

undated

21

6

Ernst Troeltsch

undated

21

7

Plato

undated

21

8

Eternity and Time in Plato

undated

21

9

Contemporary Philosophical Issues in Christianity

1962

21

10

Contemporary Philosophy and Religion

undated

21

11

Logical Positivism

undated

21

12

Contemporary Philosophy

1952, undated

22

1

Contemporary Philosophy

undated

22

2

Philosophical Backgrounds for Theology

undated

22

3

Christian and Contemporary Philosophy

undated

22

4

Philosophical Backgrounds

undated

22

5

Philosophical Background Lectures

1945-1946

22

6

Philosophical Backgrounds of Theology

undated

22

7

Stoicism

undated

22

8

Instrumentalism

undated

22

9

Psychoanalysis

undated

22

10

Phenomenology

undated

22

11

Marxism

undated

22

12

Religion in Higher Education

undated

22

13

Notes taken while at Strasbourg

undated

23

1

Notes for course, Theology: East and West

1947

23

2

Society for Theological Education

1958-1961

23

3

Correspondence with Doctoral Candidates

1951-1954

23

4

Preparation for Worldly Theology

undated

23

5

Hegel's Essay on Faith and Knowledge

undated

23

6

Preparation for Wesley article in the Calhoun Festschrift

undated

23

7

Preparation for article in the Niebuhr Festschrift

undated

23

8

Miscellaneous

undated

23

9

Miscellaneous

undated

23

10

Miscellaneous

undated

24

1

Miscellaneous

undated

24

2

Miscellaneous

undated

24

3

Miscellaneous

undated

24

4

Miscellaneous

undated

24

5

Miscellaneous

undated

24

6

Miscellaneous

undated

24

7

Miscellaneous

undated

24

8

Miscellaneous

undated

24

9

Miscellaneous

undated

24

10

Miscellaneous

undated

24

11

Miscellaneous

undated

Series 3: Publications, 1944-1966

Series Description
The Publications Series includes almost every published and many unpublished works written by Michalson. It is divided in two subseries: Subseries A includes parts of books, articles, book reviews written by Michalson and book reviews of Michalson's books. A master list was published in 1966 in the Drew Gateway and serves as a guide to this series. Printed copies of the list are located in Box 24 Folder 12. Subseries B includes Michalson's unpublished sermons and prayers.

Arrangement
Subseries A contains parts of books and articles arranged alphabetically as in the Drew Gateway publication, The Writings of Carl Michalson and book reviews are in original order. Subseries B contains sermons arranged by title or biblical order and prayers arranged in original order.

Box

Folder

Title

Date

Subseries A: Published Works, 1944-1966

24

12

The Writings of Carl Michalson, Drew Gateway

1966

24

13

Parts of Books

1953-1966

25

1

Articles, B

1945-1965

25

2

Articles, C-D

1945-1965

25

3

Articles, E-F

1945-1965

25

4

Articles, G-H

1945-1965

25

5

Articles, I-K

1945-1965

25

6

Articles, L-M

1945-1965

25

7

Articles, N-P

1945-1965

25

8

Articles, R

1945-1965

25

9

Articles, T

1945-1965

25

10

Articles, W

1945-1965

25

11

Book Reviews of Michalson Works

1944-1965

26

1

Book Reviews by Michalson

1944-1965

26

2

Miscellaneous Book Reviews

1944-1965

Subseries B: Unpublished Works, undated

26

3

Sermons by Title

undated

26

4

Sermons in Biblical Order

undated

26

5

Prayers

undated

Series 4: Professional Papers, 1943-1965

Series Description
The Professional Papers series consists of Michalson's papers while a faculty member of Drew Theological School. It is divided into two subseries: Subseries A includes departmental, faculty, and Drew Gateway editorship information. Subseries B contains departmental and publisher correspondence and programs from guest preaching and conference speaking engagements.

Subseries B: Correspondence and Programs, 1943-1965

Series 5: Personal Papers and Memorials, 1965-1983

Series Description
The Personal Papers and Memorials series contains documentation of Michalson's life and the plane crash that ended his life. It is divided into three subseries: Subseries A contains newspaper articles, papers and tributes. Subseries B concerns The Carl Michalson Society. Subseries C is photographs.